The Junior Member Misspoke
06 May 2009 12:13 am by Taylor Marsh
Arlen Specter has new problems, which were handed to him by the Senate last night.
In announcing his move across the aisle last week, Specter asserted that Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had assured him he would retain his seniority in the Senate and on the five committees on which he serves. Specter’s tenure ranked him ahead of all but seven Democrats.
Instead, though, on a voice vote last night, the Senate approved a resolution that made Specter the most junior Democrat on four committees for the remainder of this Congress. (He will rank second from last on the fifth, the Special Committee on Aging.) Reid himself read the resolution on the Senate floor, underscoring the reversal.
It’s not turning out like Specter planned or how Reid promised. To add and to clarify, that is both of these Democrats may not get the deal they made in the next Congress because there are other things afoot.
Reading the New York Times piece, it was hard not to start a countdown. You know, until something was said that proved Arlen Specter realized he’d temporarily lost his grip and needed to find it quickly. CQ’s got it:
“In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another, I have to get used to my new teammates,” he said. “I’m ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I’ve made a career of being precise. I conclusively misspoke.”
Ah, yes, the old “conclusively misspoke” story.
Not only did Specter misspeak, but it looks like he misjudged things as well, but he’s certainly not alone. Though he moved over calculating his win-loss probabilities, it was also pretty clear that he wanted revenge, always satisfying but usually blinding. In this case it’s clear that Mr. Specter, the new junior member of the Democratic caucus, didn’t think beyond getting even.
With Joe Sestak and some Democrats (myself included) gnashing for a primary fight, it’s not going to get any easier for Mr. Specter from here.
